[Video] Mike Golden & Friends: "Every Morning Love"
Well, if you haven't heard, love is in the air. Adding to the Valentine's Day spirit is Mike Golden & Friends out of Chicago. The soul rock group adds another layer to the already heightened sense of the four letter word with another well-crafted video from the talented Elijah Alvarado. Never one to do things the same twice, Alvarado begins the video with Golden beginning a wall of dominoes, which then pace the first few moments of the visual depiction of the band's song "Every Morning Love", eventually sparking a mechanism, seemingly out of the opening scene of The Sandlot, that announces the title in one of the most creative ways I've ever seen it done. Remember when the song title and artist name were just white writing in the bottom left corner? It's 2014, people. Basically, Golden and Alvarado set up a girl's dream Valentine's Day morning set to a single off the band's latest project, Utopia. Check it out below.
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[RH Interview] Mike Golden
Photography by Mike Hari
Chicago is easily identifiable as a musical city. Without argument, the Second City has produced greats in every genre and discipline, and continues to do so without much sign of stopping. As of late, it seems as though every couple of months we are seeing a new act take off from the city and one act that has been making noise for awhile around the scene is finally looking primed to do just that. Mike Golden & Friends is a breath of fresh air in a musical landscape that is increasingly dominated by a sort of digital hoarding that has made the computer an instrument. While he brings in elements of electronic production to pair with the live instrumentality of the band, the core of Mike Golden & Friends is the pure, unadulterated organic sound that starts and ends with the jarringly poignant voice of Golden.
The 26-year-old Hammond, Ind., native was the first act to bring Kids These Days and Rockie Fresh down to the Eastern Illinois University for shows is the central figure to his namesake band and last week at the House of Blues for the band's album release show for Utopia, Golden commanded the stage, rattling off a plethora of songs, returning for an extended encore. Over the past couple of years Chicago has re-established a reputation as increasingly younger artists have taken off. Mike Golden shows that there is still room to set a foundation, evolve and make great music while consistently taking things to a higher plane. I had a chance to talk to Mike Golden last week about the new album, hearing his music in video games and what the whole ride has been like thus far, check it all out below.
[Album] Mike Golden & Friends: "Utopia"
Mike Golden & Friends have been slowly building themselves into one of the premier acts to catch in the increasingly crowded Chicago music scene and yesterday they dropped their latest release, Utopia to continue that climb. Teased over the last few weeks with the behind the scenes video for the single "Mary Jane" featuring Vic Mensa and Donnie Trumpet, Utopia is a truly transcendental project for the group, who bring together a myriad of influences and sounds to create the soulful, highly instrumental sound that sees the band float between rock, blues and post-punk sensibilities behind the strong-voiced Mike Golden at the helm.
Utopia demonstrates a certain growth that comes naturally for a band in their 20s, a slightly more mature, developed songwriting and computed worldview that bleeds through in the music. On "Best Part", Golden glosses over aiming for the sweetest time in a relationship, aka the best part, singing, "I just wanna make it to the best part,". On the album's title track, he explains, "When you wake depends on when you take a hold of it," As the rap scene in Chicago seems to take over how people view the city, acts like MG&F demonstrate the true range of music coming out of The Second City. A sold out show last Friday at the House of Blues in Chicago was a fitting celebration of the group's latest release since 2011's well-received Groceries and served as a proper introduction for a project that we should see pop up quite a bit throughout this year.